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BackgroundIt would be far from the truth if I claimed to be an avid follower of BOC, much like Rush they are a band I've never taken the time to explore in great depth. However this album is an exception, one that I think stands out as the heaviest of their late 70's and early 80's period, after softening up a bit on previous releases. The result is a highly accomplished hard rock album with all the idiosyncrasies one had come to expect from the offbeat rockers

The SongsThe well known 'Black Blade' runs at almost seven minutes, with some explosive guitar outbursts mixed in with typically atmospheric tangents. This is the BOC longtime fans wanted to hear. 'Monsters' features more of the same, with sax sections thrown into the mix to add spice. The brooding 'Devine Wind' is an ominous tune, but still has all the foundations of classic hard rock. The stunning 'Deadline' contains a great mixture of swirling keyboards and melodic interludes, far more reserved musically, but all the better for it. 'The Marshall Plan' is a more traditional rocker, but the key moment for me is 'Hungry Boys', a fast rocker about a bunch of drug addicts which totally belies its subject matter musically. The keyboards are more pronounced on 'Fallen Angel', a track which is excellent in all areas, particularly the vocals. 'Lips In The Hills' showed how heavy the band could be when they wanted and this borders on metal.

In SummaryThis was another major seller for the band and they followed it with the infamous 'Black And Blue' tour with Black Sabbath, who shared producer Martin Birch with BOC in 1980. The tour frequently ran into trouble as both bands overplayed, causing many shows to be prematurely ended. BOC continued their string of success with 1981's Fire Of Unknown Origin' but of course things soon went awry and by 1983 Albert Bouchard was gone and the decline started. This however is the band at their creative and commercial peak.

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My favourite BOC album's are 'Fire of the Unknown Origin' and 'Revolution By Night', still seems to be missing? anyone thought/working on them at the moment? let me know as I can add either to my list. Thanks